False information in Taiwan spread by foreign governments has increased from 2011, Sweden-based academic Staffan Lindberg said in Taipei yesterday, adding that it is important for media to fact check stories to counter the trend.
A political science professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, Lindberg was invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to talk about misinformation in Taiwan based on exerience as director of global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem): Global Standards, Local Knowledge.
The project involves nearly 3,000 experts across 180 countries. Its headquarters are at the university’s V-Dem Institute.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
In their research, Lindberg said they found that Taiwan had been besieged by the most false information disseminated by foreign governments in the past few years, followed by Latvia, Bahrain, Qatar, Hungary, Yemen, Kosovo and Syria, as well as other countries.
False information can be defined as information “factually or documentarily untrue,” but some gray areas exist on the true-untrue spectrum, he said.
The amount of misinformation in Taiwan increased in about 2011, he said, adding that China is a “possible suspect” due to its authoritarian control of information.
Taiwan’s government cannot just shut down the Internet, yet the Chinese and Russian governments can, making democratic countries more susceptible to misinformation attacks, he said.
Regarding the level of government dissemination of false information domestically and abroad, China is placed in the “extremely often” category; Taiwan and Japan in the “rarely” category; and the US between the “half the time” and “rarely” categories, he said.
Lindberg said reporters should work harder to check facts before publishing news, especially as social media has become a major source.
There are also fake scientific journals publishing unreliable papers to sway public opinion about issues such as climate change, he said, advising journalists to check with third-party experts before citing a paper.
Governments should work with social media firms to keep false information from circulating, he added.
On Thursday, Lindberg also gave a speech at National Taiwan University’s Department of Political Science.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
STAY COOL: The HPA recommended that people stay hydrated, use air-conditioning or fans while indoors, wear loose-fitting clothes and walk in the shade while outdoors Employers must implement measures such as installing cooling equipment, and providing drinking water and rest breaks for outdoor workers starting from Monday next week, the Taipei Department of Labor said on Sunday. Employers who fail to comply could face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), the department said. Businesses in Taipei employing fewer than 100 workers, as well as registered self-employed workers with labor insurance coverage, could receive on-site assessments and guidance from occupational safety consultants to help them apply for central government subsidies to implement or improve heat-protection measures, it said. Under the Ministry of
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS